I agree with the last sentence entirely, which is why the OP about the nanny state annoys me so much. I was reasonably good at all sports, but never quite good enough to be in the PE teacher's (a Brian Glover type bully) gang, so was never encouraged or coached. My daughter was never a natural at sport, it is only as she has got older when her strength & stamina has started to tell that she has started to excell (compared with her peers who complain about walking 100m). Before she was put in goal at hockey or football or out of the way at netball. To an extent where she hated PE & was somethimes reduced to tears. But hey, fu ck those that aren't the best, let them eat cake & get obese.

It seems my post about the nanny state has created some healthy debate. Tigertot, your arguments are very compelling. Good luck to your daughter with her cross country.

The majority of the after school sports activities at my son's primary school are run by an outside company and have to be paid for. Most of those are non competitive. At his age I was involved in the football team playing against other schools (fondly remember chasing the ball down the slope at daisy hill). Fortunately he gets his competitive fix from rugby and cricket but that's outside school.

Cheers. At her first race she was the only one without spikes & proper kit. Spikes for cross country - WTF? She was also advised she needed new trainers as hers were too small. Kerching, £100.

The non-competitive aspect of school sport has always rankled with me. Why are we not allowed to teach kids how to win gracefully as well as lose gracefully? Heaven forbid that someone gets upset coz they lose a game. That's life. Non-competitive sports at school do the children no favours imo.

Strange, as I have not come across a school where that is the norm, every school I have attended or my partner or daughter attended have competitive PE. The first priority of school however should be to give kids some physical activity & instill some teamworking, not to teach them to win at all costs. The winning mentality & skills coaching should come from the after school training, which sadly doesn't seem to exist at schools anymore. The following is a quote from a thread on VT & shows why there is a gulf in quality with down under & is nowt to do with schoolsI have a perspective on this as I played a lot at senior amateur level, and gained all the coaching qualifications that existed in England... I now live and work in Sydney

I have two boys who were just 12 & 13 when we emigrated to Australia in 2008.. we lived in the wilds of north yorkshire so neither had experience Rugby League before we arrived here.... we joined a nice little club in the Cronulla Sharks catchment area and the kids started training... every training session was fitness, strength, ball work, team formations for plays and kicks.. I watched the kids from under 8 to first grade do the same twice, sometimes 3 times a week... first season the under 14 team got smashed...

another season of skill, drill and fitness saw my two lads play in and win the under 15 grand final... and my youngest son played in the district school final a few weeks later...

I am really excited as to what they will achieve next year, but that is down to the league and club structure, the coaching and the intensity of the sport even at that age group...

within 30 minutes walk of my home there are 4 or 5 clubs which all have the same structure...in the Cronulla area there are about 20 clubs with the same structure... each age group fights for the right to represent the area in their age group against other areas... the competition is fierce!

all the professional players at the sharks are allocated a club in the area and the head coach may send them to play for and or do some coaching for that club...

Adam Cuthbertson and Mark Lennon both pulled the club colours on this season, and had to work hard to make an impact.

yes we need the aussie structure in our players but that has to be from a young age and in a very competitive environment.'"